At 10/10/2012 7:46:43 AM, lannan13 wrote:What do you think would of happend if the the CSA won the Civil War and then after the war annexed the Union? What would history be like?

US industrialization would have halted and, rather than the north-eastern protestant (puritanical) work ethic becoming the characteristic norm of American's approach to hard labor, because I predict Southern Culture would have percolated north, America would be an almost exclusively agrarian peon nation (with a cracker culture) rather than the post-industrial (hegemonic) superpower it is today. That is not an indictment of Southern culture, btw. so much as it is a theory of what outcome it would have yielded, had it not been quashed (largely) after the unpleasantness of the late 1860s.

"Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights..."

Community Supported Agriculture, over the last 20 years, has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer. In brief...

Advantages for farmers:Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field beginReceive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flowHave an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefitsGet exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cookingUsually get to visit the farm at least once a seasonFind that kids typically favor food from "their" farm " even veggies they've never been known to eatDevelop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown